Yes & No! No & yes!
No a referral is not actually required for a person to see a specialist(and for those of you that will blast me for saying no, make sure sure you continue reading my post to see the but that follows)
But...
good luck actually getting a doctor to see you without one.
A referral is NOT required to see a specialist in this country, however one is required for the physician to bill the government for your visit.
All provinces have a fee schedule that doctors have to follow. Most specialists have a much larger margin of money that they can charge for visits, without the referral a specialist can only charge the basic fees for a GP. It doesn't matter how much a doctor cares about their patients, no specialized doctor in their right mind will take a paycut for seeing a patient with out a referral. $$$ makes the world go round, and the healthcare system is no different.
If you don't have a family physician to refer you, any doctor(including those at walk in clinics) can do the referral for you. Often doctor's offices are more up to date(than even the college of physicians and surgeons) and can get things arranged for you quite easily. If you find the wait is too long, make sure you request to be put on the endocrinologist's waiting list.
Good Luck!
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